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| I was born in the city of Puntarenas into a pioneering family of boat designers, where my uncle had the first naval design license in the country. My father was my main mentor and he and my uncle gave me my first job as the “line tracer”. With a pencil I drew in the boat master’s plans. At age 6 I received my first salary, which was only one “colon” per week. Always with my father in his world of boat manufacturing, I decided to take advantage of the tools he didn’t use. I began designing boogies out of polystyrene so that I could enjoy the speed of the white water | |||
Always with my father in his world of boat manufacturing, I decided to take advantage of the tools he didn’t use. I began designing boogies out of polystyrene so that i could enjoy the speed of the white water in the waves. . | |||
Surfing in Costa Rica started becoming popular in the early 1980s. The Caribbean and Boca Barranca became the most visited places, as they had good routes of communication. It was in “Boca Barranca” where the practice and the inspiration of construction and sliding started. The pioneering surfers enjoyed the waves in the first pick of the mouth, the famous “second”, and us, off course around the border. Many years passed and I decided to collect, pill out and reshape all of the classic boards that I could handle. | |||
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| Until I could collect money to buy my first professional blank and enjoy good design and the quality assurance that it brings, I kept working and tried to save money for the materials for the next board.
Then a customer would give me more than the double of the cost of the board I made for him. In this way I began to save money and get seriously into the art of board-making. | ||
| I remember visiting Tamarindo Beach in the early 1990s with nothing but my boards on my shoulder. I immediately built a good reputation with both the local shop Iguana surf and tourists, and obtained recognition and remuneration for my natural talent. At this time a lot of frogs were always jumping in the streets in the same direction, and for that reason I decided to put the frog logo on the nose of the boards. To the left I am finishing with the competitive technical part of the surfboard that Pedro Cruz used to win the national championship. | |||
| Later, I felt that traveling to Tamarindo Beach was too far and difficult so I decided on Playa Jaco, one hour south of Boca Barranca. With my boards on my shoulder, I stopped at the first surf shop I saw and met William Johnson. He said, “Mae, I want to try those ‘bichillas’ (surfboards).” That was an awesome moment for me, receiving a compliment from the owner of a surf shop for my work. | |||
Making good friends like Chuck Herwig—a very generous and important person iafter relocating to Playa Jaco—I found my professional distribution in the “Chosita del Surf” now W.O.W SURF) and climbed the ladder as a professional shaper of surfboards in Central America. |
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| I opened my own surf shop, located at south end of Jaco, and my new “glass house” is located in Herradura. I can confidently say that, thanks to my long history and the people who stuck around and are still here next to me, I have managed to create a product of international quality. |
Copyright 2009 cartonsurfboards.com.Costa Rica All Rights Reserved Web desigh by Warner Villalobos and Edwin Carton¨ Villalobos Carton Surfboards the Shop, Calle Madrigal frente Club del Sol, Jaco Costa Rica telfax 506 2643 37 62 Email villaloboswarner@yahoo.com and cartonshaper@hotmail.com my pages |